


Another head aches, another heart breaks

by cutebutpsyco



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff and Angst, I'm Bad At Tagging, M/M, Major Character Undeath, bad vampires puns, the sanctum doesn't like vampires, vampire!Tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-26
Updated: 2018-10-26
Packaged: 2019-08-07 20:11:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16415132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cutebutpsyco/pseuds/cutebutpsyco
Summary: It required Peter something like half a second to understand what the hell Tony was speaking about. “So… Vampires are real?” He asked. “And Mr Stark is a vampire?! Oh god, that’s… Is it true that Bram Stoker’s Dracula is the most accurate novel on vampires?”Or: Stephen messes with magic to bring Tony back from death. It works, sort of.





	Another head aches, another heart breaks

**Author's Note:**

> First of all, I want to thank grandracounteur on Tumblr for being a wonderful beta and for helping me with this reminding me things from the DS movie that I had forgotten. Like, I'm really sorry for the enormous work you had to do. As always, English isn't my first lenguage so whatever mistake you can find is still on me. I'm great in mistakes and typos. 
> 
> Tagged as Major Character Death because a major character dies but it's temporary. I beg your pardon for all the Twilight and The Vampire Diaries references but I couldn't just ignore them. I'm a slut for vampires, tho, as Peter, I'm pretty sure the most accurate representation of vampires is Dracula (I love that novel from the bottom of my heart). 
> 
> Special thanks to Grandeur_Reconteur and merelypassingtime on Tumblr for the Ironstrange Advent Calendar event.  
> Nothing belongs to me, title from 'All these things that I've done' by The Killers.

Unable to do anything, unable to react because of the spell he was the victim of, Stephen watched as Tony started to fall from the sky. His steel-blue eyes were fixed on the crimson and gold figure, too far, too small to look human and still terribly real. Stephen tried to free himself from the spell which was pinning him against the wall at his back, but he couldn’t. He looked around, the comm buzzing in his ear.

“Does everyone copy?” He asked, hoping to hear something on the other end of the goddamned thing, but silence was the only answer he got. He froze. It wasn’t the first time he found himself unable to do anything but watch, though those other times he had tried, tried so hard to stop his enemies. Now, he simply couldn’t. He was left powerless, like he had been while he was looking at the x-ray of his hands immediately after his accident. 

A moment later, he heard Clint’s voice: “Everyone’s down, Doc.”

Fuck, fuck, fuck! He had no idea how the archer could oppose himself to that amount of magic, though he was glad not to be the only conscious one, even if he couldn’t move.  
“Can you shoot him down?” He asked, trying not to think about Tony and where he fell. He would reach him, later, but now they had something to take care off. 

“I can work on it,” Hawkeye replied, and then the comm went off. 

“Just keep him busy,” Strange replied. He just needed a little bit of time to find a way to free himself, and then he could help Barton to get rid of the fucking sorcerer or whatever that thing was. His powers looked very much alike to Wanda’s, though they didn’t only mess with the others’ minds. It seemed like he could also control space, instead, and not as in walking through different dimensions, but bending space itself. Which meant that the Mirror Dimension wasn’t a good way to control damage, considering that the villain of the week could walk in and out of it.

Clint, at least, seemed like was giving enough of a challenge to the man because Stephen managed to break free from the spell. The sorcerer disentangled himself from the bricks and pipes of the house he was in and reached the other Avenger. “Good to see you,” the other man said the moment the sorcerer landed at his side. Stephen nodded, his eyes running in the wizard’s direction. 

“You should know better than mess with the Supreme Sorcerer,” He said, sending the wizard in a pocket dimension Strange himself created and in which the magic couldn’t work. It required a lot of energy and Wong lectured him a lot about doing such kind of spells after having lost a lot of blood, but Stephen didn’t care at that moment. He needed to know everyone was fine. He needed to know that Tony was fine. 

Feeling a weird lightness in his head, the sorcerer let Clint help him to walk near to some building before collapsing against its wall. He rested there until he could catch his breath back and everything stopped spinning around him. It was like he was tipsy, but Stephen had always been good at recovering fast, especially when he had other concerns. “How are you still walking?” 

“Loki messed with my mind, once,” Barton explained to him. “I did a lot of training to make sure that was the only time someone got into my brain. Or use magic on me in general. SHIELD tech had a couple of geniuses to work on it.” 

Stephen nodded, the dizziness gone in a moment. There was something in Clint’s words that reminded of him that they weren’t having a friendly conversation. It wasn’t typical of Stephen’s character forgetting about more important things, but if he had to tell the truth, he was trying to postpone what he knew was bad new. 

“Where’s everyone? Magic should be leaving their systems by now,” He tried to rise from the floor, but the only result he had was that everything spun faster around him. He was too afraid to ask the real question, the one which was burning at the back of his mind. 

“Easy, Strange,” Clint told him, catching Stephen by his elbow before he could hit the ground again and helped him on his feet. “Your friend brought Pete, Nat and Wanda back to Hogwarts, the others were still up when he left,” He started to explain. Stephen, Thor and Rhodey split from the rest of the group once they arrived and he portalled the two men to the Sanctum as well when they had been hit by magic. “I have no idea where the big guy is, but possibly our friend Bannered him back. Steve, Bucky and Sam are there and Tony…”

His voice faded, and Stephen couldn’t say if it was because Barton said nothing or because he didn't want to listen to whatever came next. He wasn’t even sure he cared, by now. Everything he could think about was Tony falling lifelessly towards the concrete. It didn’t matter how resistant his armour was, nobody can survive that fall, not even Tony Stark. 

And Stephen tried not to show his worst thought while he could feel Clint’s arms holding him steady. He saw everything fall in front of him. It didn’t even matter that he managed to trap the goddamned wizard into a dimension from which he couldn’t escape because he knew, deep in his brain, that Tony was dead, gone for good. 

“Where is he?” He snapped at Clint even if the man was not at fault and was trying to help him. He couldn’t even look at Hawkeye’s face. He didn’t want to see the grief on it, the sadness which was both for having lost a teammate and for telling said teammate’s boyfriend what happened. 

Clint pointed at some collapsed building not so far from where they were. “He fell over there. Stephen maybe it’s better if you don’t-”

Stephen didn’t care what Clint’s opinion was over him seeing his boyfriend’s body. He knew, rationally, that no person can survive that kind of fall, but a part of him still hoped. Tony was Iron Man, both because of his suit and because of his strength. If there was someone who could, that person was Tony himself. The Sorcerer walked past Clint almost not hearing the muffled questions coming from a now awake Sam. He couldn’t hear anything but his pounding heart and hoped Clint could give the others the answers they were looking for because, even if he knew how to explain it, Stephen couldn’t. Not at that moment. 

He reached the point where Tony fell and started to climb the debris from the building. It took him longer than Strange had hoped, but he was still weak because of the spell and because it required a lot of energie to keep that pocket dimension working. Though, once he reached Tony and took off his helmet, he wished he’d never climbed to the top of the collapsed building. 

Tony’s face was a map of scratches and blood; he was paler than ever, and his lips were swollen, thought what really broke something inside of Stephen was seeing his empty whiskey brown eyes. Those very same eyes which always were full of light and new ideas.  
His genius boyfriend was staring at him, but it was clear he wasn’t seeing anything any longer. 

And Stephen knew he didn’t have time to mourn him, not now. Because he couldn’t lose the love of his life and because it was too late for medicine to save him. He only knew one way, and that way was forbidden. 

\--

The portal opened inside of what looked like a dark cave. Everything around Stephen and the motionless body he was carrying in his arms was pitch-black, the golden sparkle of the portal which was closing at his back was the only source of light. Once it had been closed, there was no way anyone could see what there was in front of him. But Stephen and whoever knew how to cast a spell which allowed to see in the dark, which he did immediately, balancing Tony’s body between his own and the wall at his back.

The man could see the old paint on the wall, could read what each of the symbols meant and could see what the rules were. He didn’t care. No warnings could stop him from doing what he wanted to, no warnings could make him change his mind. 

He knew he didn’t have a lot of time left, either. That spell could only work if it was practiced shortly after the death and he had no idea how long it took him to get rid of the wizard and speak with Burton. It was his last hope, however, and Stephen wasn’t going to ignore it. 

He looked at Tony’s face. It wasn’t peaceful as Donna’s had been back in the day, and - no, he couldn’t think about Donna, not right now. He needed to think about the spell, feeling the magic flow through him and save the love of his life. It was too late for his sister, but it wasn’t for Tony. 

He lowered himself close to one of the dark springs in the cave and started to trace runes on Tony’s chest, arms and legs. He traced runes of healing and strength and runes of prayers to the Vishanti. That was the only thing he could do. And he had to hope that it was enough.  
Despite him being absolutely drained by the huge amount of magic he used against the other man, Stephen had to try. He let the man be a huge part of his life, and he couldn’t think about a life without Tony. It was selfish, probably, but there was no way he could just let Tony go. The world needed Iron Man, Peter and Harley needed their mentor, Stephen needed Tony. 

He tried to silence the echo of Wong’s voice in his mind, telling him not to do this, then let Tony’s body fall into the water, following him a moment later. 

The first thing Stephen felt was the icy sensation of the water against his skin. It hurt as his hands used to do soon after his incident, and then he felt the magic flowing away from his body, his right hand around Tony’s wrist. Stephen wasn’t even sure this could work. It was an old legend, something that he read in some very ancient book which also referred to it as a forbidden practice, but Strange didn’t care. He was ready to pay whatever the price was, for Tony. 

When he felt the pulse in Tony’s wrist, he pushed his feet against the bottom of the pool and breathed again the cold air once he was out of the water. Tony’s eyes were focused again, warm and responsive, even if the glance in them was sharper. His breathing was fast, and Stephen could understand that he was experiencing a panic attack. Not that the sorcerer dared to hope for something different. His hand clasped at Strange’s arm, and it was a stronger grip than Tony’s usual one. 

“W… W… What happened?” Tony asked the moment he saw Stephen was by his side. The man shook his head. Stephen wasn’t the kind of person who blindly followed the rules, but there was a difference between not following the rules and telling a man he had been brought back from death. The former was something Stephen was sort of used to do, the latter could trigger a massive panic attack in said man. Even if that man was Tony Stark.

“You got injured fighting against a rogue sorcerer,” He decided to answer. Hopefully, the only person who knew that Tony died was Clint, and he could ask Hawkey not to tell the truth. “Everyone did, but he messed up your suit, and you hit the ground pretty hard. I brought you here to heal you.”

Just for a moment, something in Tony’s eyes snapped, but then he simply curled against Stephen's chest and nodded. “Thank you,” He whispered. Stephen smiled at him and portalled the both of them back in the Sanctum. 

\--

Wong was waiting for him, not that Stephen dared to hope for something different if he had to be honest, since he didn’t come back from the battle and probably Clint told him that he last saw Stephen with Tony. And, of course, the Sorcerer Supreme also expected for his friend to be upset with him. 

Strange’s eyes were on Tony, trying to understand what he really did. He still had no idea but Tony was there, breathing and alive and it wasn’t like Stephen could complain about that. If not that the exact moment his boyfriend appeared in the foyer of the Sanctum, the place started to portal them from one room to the other, and then dropped them on the stairs at the entrance. It did that before with Thor to express its distrust of the Asgardian. 

But he never did that with Tony, not even the first time he walked in and was completely sceptical when it came to magic. Tony’s grip tightened almost painfully before he looked at Stephen, his deep eyes blank and scared. 

“What the fuck…?” He asked. Stephen knew he was just trying to give magic a chance, but he could see that now Tony was feeling refused by his boyfriend’s magic. The door at their shoulders opened a moment later and Wong came out from it. 

“Strange,” His tone was stern, like his eyes. “We need to speak, now. Portal Stark home and come inside.”

Stephen knew it was better to obey him and, after opening a portal for Tony and placing a saft kiss against his lips, he walked inside. He could imagine what the man was going to say to him and he didn’t want to hear it. The moment he was back inside, the librarian turned to look at him, and in the beat of an eye was yelling at him. 

“What’s wrong with you, Strange?!” Wong never screamed. He usually wore a stern expression and when was disappointed his voice was just cold, distant. The only time Stephen heard him yell before was when he first took the Eye of Agamotto. “You brought him back from death!”

“You already know, apparently,” Stephen tried to justify himself. He couldn’t and didn’t want to speak with Wong about Tony’s motionless body. He wasn’t ready for that. His steel blue eyes ran over the face of the man in front of him. “How do you know, anyway?” He asked, instead.

Stephen could feel his breath growing weaker, shaking more and more. His mind creating, again, the picture of Tony’s body in his arms. He didn’t know how he kept together, not when that very same image was so similar to the 14 million ones he saw on Titan when he looked into the future, but he did react, he brought Tony to the caves because he knew that was the only way to keep the man with him. 

“You broke the rules of Nature, again!” At least, now his voice was back to normality. “Do you even know which the consequences are?”

“Anything is better than letting him die,” Stephen still didn’t know it was possible for Wong to understand it the exact moment they walk through the portal, but he didn’t care, for the time being. 

“Do you know what could happen when someone brings back somebody else from death? Waiting too long can let the other person be a zombie, and the person who gave them their energy would become their master.”

“Tony doesn’t look like a zombie, and I’m definitely not his master,” Stephen tried to justify himself. It was true, that was clear to him. Tony was still himself. He needed to know that, his hands were shaking terribly, he didn’t know about that. He read about that practice but he didn’t expect to use it so he never read which the consequences were. “What can happen to him?”

“I don’t know. There are a lot of possibilities, I’ll try to figure out all of them because, right now, I can think only about the worst outcomes possible,” Wong’s glance was on Stephen and he could understand that the man felt sorry for him. “Stephen,” He said, while Strange was going to his room. He needed to see Tony right now, he needed to know he was fine. Stephen had never been the kind of person who was possessive with his partner but he was afraid that Tony could die again and this time without any opportunity to bring him back. “If I were in you, I’d spend time with him. I don’t know how long the spell will endure.” 

It was like the other sorcerer read his mind, and now he was speaking about what he feared the most. He nodded and portalled himself in the Tower, and he almost ran his way to the Penthouse. He almost didn’t realize he was holding his breath until the doors opened and he found Tony on the floor, in front of the TV; a T-bone steak in his hands, the blood of the meal rushing down his fingers, pooling under his elbow. 

Stephen froze, Tony understood he wasn’t alone any longer and rose his eyes on him, a low growl rising from his bloody lips. His eyes were on him and were full of anger and fear. “S...Stephen…” He mouthed, raising his hands from his dinner. 

Stephen was by his side in a moment, arms slowly placed around his shoulders. And then Tony snapped and Stephen felt his boyfriend clearly pushing him back. “Babe?” He asked, his voice shaking. He saw Tony in his lowest points, even if the billionaire told him that the year Nat met him had been the worst of his entire life, but he had never been like that.  
He had never pushed Stephen back from a hug. 

“What happened?” Tony asked him, moving back from their hug and let himself fall against the couch. “Stephen… What happened to me? What happened in that fucking cave?” 

And Stephen understood he couldn’t lie any longer to him, even if that meant that their story was going to end with the terrible argument which would follow.  
Stephen stood as well from the floor but didn’t try to reach Tony again. He stayed there, looking at the love of his life, trying to find the words with which he could tell Tony the truth. 

“What do you remember, from the fight?” He asked, hoping Tony didn’t remember of the fall or being dead either. The genius went through hell and back and Stephen promised both to Stark and to himself to protect him, no matter what, and he didn’t. He wasn’t able to. Because his magic failed on him, and Tony was the only one who paid the consequences. It was unfair, it was unfair that it had to be him, it was unfair that Stephen wasn’t able to do anything. He had never lost patients, while he was performing surgery, but he knew for sure he wouldn’t have felt like he did when he saw Tony falling. 

Seeing Tony’s lifeless body fall through the void and crushing against the concrete broke something inside of Stephen. He was selfish, he didn’t bring Tony back from the dead because of Tony, he did it because he couldn’t live without Stark. 

Tony looked at him, trying to clean himself from the blood. He looked somewhat calmer, but Stephen didn’t dare to hope so. “I remember we were fighting a sort of wizard, and he blocked your powers, and Wanda’s. And then he got into everyone else’s mind. He… He made me…” Tony’s hand ran on his chest, grasping at it while his memories came back suddenly altogether. “I deactivated the suit, but I was flying, I couldn’t possibly survive… Stephen…?”

Stephen moved closer to Tony, but tried to keep his distance anyway. He knew what a panic attack looked like; he experienced enough himself to know the signs. “Tony, I need you to breathe,” He whispered, holding Stark’s hand so that he could grasp and ground himself to the moment. 

“What happened…?” Tony asked again, and this time, Stephen couldn’t deny him an answer. 

“Clint and I succeeded in containing the wizard inside a magic-free pocket dimension, but you… Nobody could survive a fall like that, and I couldn’t just… I remembered reading something about a place where people can share their vital energy to bring back people from death.”

“You,” Tony was looking at him and it was clear that he was both shocked and angry and Stephen was ready for all of that. Tony, who had always despised magic, who had flirted with death so many times, who was ready to sacrifice himself to save the world. How could he accept the idea of surviving death itself? “You did what?”

“It was the only way,” Stephen answered, remembering a moment too late the last time he used those very same words. “I couldn’t turn away and pretend I didn’t know how to help you, Tony.”

And he saw the moment he stepped over completely new boundaries. Tony moved away from both the couch and Stephen quickly. “You had no right to do it!” He yelled, his body shaking. “Go away!”

\--

Tony was lying in his bed, an empty bed since he told Stephen to go away, in an empty house, dark eyes lost in the contemplation of the ceiling. He missed the presence of the other man by his side, though what Stephen told him was something with which he didn’t know how to deal. He was dead. He was _supposed_ to be dead.

Instead, he was there, not tired at all, fighting against the impulse of taking another steak from the fridge and - he had no idea what he did before. He remembered doing it, but he didn’t know why or what crossed his mind when he did it.  
And that was concerning. That reminded him when he tried to numb his mind in both alcohol and drugs. But that had been different. This had been as a feral instinct, a need which was burning in the deep of his throat. 

He was shaking, differently from the other times he used to. He was sweating, trembling, his breath short, and he needed blood. That thought left him breathless. What the hell had happened? Tony had no idea, and he knew that panicking wasn’t the best thing to do, though he didn’t want to see the only person who could make sense out of that. 

Stephen dared to decide what was the best for him, just as Steve did in the past. And the point was: Steve wasn’t his boyfriend, he wasn’t the man Tony loved. They were friends, allies, but not lovers. Stephen’s lie burned worse. 

“Friday,” Stark called, and his AI’s Irish lilt filled the room a moment later. 

“How can I help you, boss?”

He looked at his shaking hands, tried to push away the burning sensation he could feel at the back of his throat. The word which dared to slip from his mouth was something Tony Stark couldn’t believe. “Could you run a search on vampires? And for fuck sake, don’t include the sparkling ones, and neither the ones from that dumb TV show.”

“Which dumb TV show on vampires, boss?” Friday asked him back.

“There’s more than one? All of them,” He closed his eyes, letting his head hit the pillow and hoping that whatever answer he would receive wasn’t that Stephen’s spell turned him into a vampire. 

Not long ago, neither of those words would have made any sense to Tony, but that was his life now, apparently. 

\--

Stephen had barely slept in the previous two weeks since his last conversation with Tony. He knew that bringing Tony back from death using magic was a good way for them to break up, but he couldn’t bear the idea of losing him, of the world losing Iron Man. 

He let someone else take care of the wizard and he didn’t even want to know what happened to him. A part of Stephen wished for the man to experience the same pain the Supreme Sorcerer was feeling in that moment, another, the biggest one, the one which ordered not to kill the man, knew that pain wouldn’t have solved anything. He didn’t want to spill more blood. 

With a huff, Stephen continued to read one of the books in front of him. It was the only one Wong found about people saved using the same springs Stephen had used, and it was the journal from a very ancient sorceress which saved the Supreme Sorcerer some centuries past.  
The man almost completely drained the sorceress who performed the spell and wasn’t the same person she dragged into the water.

In another book, it was said that people who had been brought back to life after a long time were turned into zombies, ready to satisfy their master, as in the sorcerer who performed the spell. That practice was highly forbidden and whoever practised it was banished from practising magic and, if they were Masters of the Mystic Arts, the title couldn’t be used any longer. 

And then there was something which Stephen guessed had happened to Tony. If someone who couldn’t use magic was exposed to that practice, they would turn into a creature of the night. Stephen knew what another term for that was. He had turned his boyfriend into a vampire. 

At that moment, his mobile phone started to buzz on the table. He didn’t look at the caller ID and took the call. “Yes?”

“Doctor Strange,” That was Peter, despite his voice being panicked. “Can I swing by?”

“Yeah, sure,” He answered. He made clear that the kid didn’t have to ask, if he needed help or wanted someone to speak with, but the Spiderling insisted that he didn’t want to be a bother for the man so he always called, even if usually it was when he was already standing on the doorstep. He wasn’t now, because Strange couldn’t feel his aura. “Pete, is there something wrong?”

“It’s just… Mr Stark is acting weird,” He sounded unsure and a moment later Stephen decided that it was better for him to reach the kid. 

“I’m portalling to the Tower. Tony and I aren’t exactly on speaking terms right now, so I’ll portal myself in the lobby, where are you?”

“Tony’s workshop,” Peter answered, way too fast. The fact that he didn’t question about their relationship well-being indicated how worried he was. Stephen nodded, even if he knew the kid couldn’t see him and closed the call. 

When he entered the workshop, the sight in front of him was frightening. He could understand why Peter’s voice sounded so scared. Tony was curled up in a corner of a destroyed workshop, DUM-E beeping pitifully around him until he saw the Cloak which flew toward the bot and brought him away from his creator. Stephen would never be grateful enough to the Cloak itself; he knew that DUM-E really loved Tony and seeing him like that was worse for him than it was for Stephen and Peter. 

Tony’s hands were in front of his mouth, and Stephen realized he was curling up in the darkest corner of his workshop. When he suggested moving the place to one of the highest floors so that Tony could see when it was turning dark outside, he didn’t think about the chance of his boyfriend turning allergic to the sunlight any time soon. Now he felt even guiltier. 

“Go away,” Tony’s voice was cold, but it was clear that he was more scared than angry and when Peter moved a step closer, Stephen’s hand held him back. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

Apparently, in the two weeks since their last conversation, Stark figured out what had happened to him. Strange shook his head, running a hand in his hair and moved a couple of steps closer, falling on his knees so that he could approach the man he loved. 

“You won’t hurt me, ok?” He asked, moving his left hand to cast an orange shield. He waited for Tony to look at it before he let the protection dissipate. 

“I missed you,” Tony whispered, his voice sounded raw, and it didn’t require a genius to understand that his throat was sore because of his thirst. “You had no right to do it, but I missed you.”

“Tony,” Stephen’s voice was worried and soft, he wanted to make him understand he wasn’t angry with him, he missed Stark as well, he couldn’t picture his life without the genius, not since they got together. “I’m sorry, I missed you too. But, have you eating anything?”

Tony’s eyes darted to Peter. He was standing there, at Stephen’s back. The kid probably didn’t understand a thing of what was going on but it didn’t matter, not at the moment. Though the sorcerer knew that his boyfriend wasn’t going to say anything in front of him. He was scared that the kid could see him as Tony saw himself, someone who wasn’t worthy of anything. They needed to speak alone, but they couldn’t send the teen away without any explanation. 

“I can’t!” Tony yelled, and Stephen knew what he was speaking about. But he couldn’t bring Tony back to the Sanctum to help him with that. Tony needed to feed himself, he couldn’t go on for two weeks without eating, it didn’t matter that he wasn’t technically human. “I…” His hands were trembling, and then he rose and tried to grab Stephen’s neck. It was a spasmodic movement, with his right arm he was trying to keep himself grounded against the floor, in the small corner between two benches while his entire body was trying to reduce the distance between them. It was a poor image and it was clear that Tony was fighting against pure instinct, trying to keep himself from draining Stephen’s blood. 

And the sorcerer couldn’t bring himself to use magic on Tony. That already did enough, and for him, it didn’t matter either that the man was trying to attack him. Peter acted faster than everyone else. He took Stephen’s arm and pulled him back, at the other side of the workshop and then he shot a web against his mentor, glueing him to the wall at his back. “Now you tell me what’s going on!” He said, and his voice was so small while his golden brown eyes ran from Stephen to Tony and then back on the sorcerer. 

Stephen had no idea of what to do. Tony was looking at him, helplessly, while was trying to free himself from the webs and Peter looked this close to start to cry. The last thing one of them needed was to have that conversation, but they couldn’t avoid it forever either. 

“The wizard we fought two weeks ago, do you remember, kid?” Tony asked him, and while Stephen didn’t expect for him to tell the story, he could just nod. It was for the best. Stephen had never been the kind of man who liked to know the others’ stories. He valued his privacy enough to respect the others’, at least until it was indispensable for said people health. Peter nodded. “Well, he messed up with me while I was flying and, apparently, I hit the ground pretty bad, and my Houdini brought me to a very mystical place where I went Lazarus,” He cracked a smile. Strange was sure the man was still angry with him, but he was trying to pretend he didn’t care so much for Peter, it was clear. “But Steph, there, isn’t Jesus so, well, let’s say you can call me Tony Salvatore as well if you like it.” 

It required Peter something like half a second to understand what the hell Tony was speaking about. “So… Vampires are real?” He asked. “And Mr.Stark is a vampire?! Oh god, that’s… Is it true that Bram Stoker’s Dracula is the most accurate novel on vampires?”

“Kiddo,” Stephen stopped him, it was crazy how he didn’t look concerned at all at the idea of his mentor being a vampire, but the kid saw weird ass shit since he became Spider-Man, so probably that was the reason. “I don’t think that you get trivia info about vampire when you turn into one. And then we still have the feeding problem.”

Which seemed to be enough to bring back all Peter’s attention to the question at hand. He nodded, almost gravely. “Well, I suppose human blood is better?” He said. “I know TV shows and 2000s literature aren’t the best sources ever, but they know a lot about vampires.”

Stephen nodded, maybe he can use that to speak alone with Tony. Not that there was something he wanted to keep secret from Peter, but the point was that he knew what was the right thing to do. “Wong is working on that as well,” It was just half a lie. His friend told Stephen that he was looking for a way to bring Tony back to his human form but for the time being it could be useful to know how to deal with the ‘problem’. “You can join him at the Sanctum. Tony can’t enter it, the place isn’t so fond of deaths and the like, but I’ll reach you in a moment.” And he opened a portal a moment later. 

Once Peter walked through that, Stephen freed Tony who calmed down enough. “Peter was right, you need to drink human blood,” He whispered. 

“Yeah, I don’t want to.” 

Which, well, it wasn’t like the sorcerer was waiting for a different answer from Tony, to be honest. But he didn’t care either. He was going to force blood down his boyfriend’s throat if that was necessary, at least until they found a way to turn things back to normal. Possibly before every Avenger was informed on their friend’s current conditions. 

“You said the same thing when I brought you tea instead of coffee,” Stephen said, a sad smile painted over his lips. Speaking with Tony was sort of painful, considering that he was sure that once the vampire story was over they wouldn’t speak to each other again. 

“That was because I don’t like tea, now I don’t want to kill a man for my own satisfaction, t-bone steak can go as well,” Which was sort of completely valid point -at least the not killing anyone part of it- if it wasn’t that raw steaks weren’t enough, it was clear in Tony’s shaking body. 

Stephen looked at his scarred hand, they were trembling but not more than usual and the pain, that day, was tolerable. He didn’t dare to hope in anything more than what was feeling, a numb sensation of misplaced nerves, a sting sensation, but bearable. Maybe, doing what he was thinking about could, somehow, silence the pain for a while. He would have gained another scar, but, by now, he didn’t even care anymore. Those hands, which once had been perfect, were nothing more than a means which he used to protect the universe. His own body was crossed by scars, one more was nothing. 

With his magic, Stephen took his razor and ran the blade over his wrist. The blood started to flow out of it fast enough for Tony to smell its scent all at once. Which brought him to try to control his impulses again, this time apparently more effectively. “What…?” He asked, in a low growl. 

“I trust you, Tony. I need you to feed,” Stephen’s voice was soft and he tried not to cry in pain once Tony’s mouth was on his wrist. It wasn’t exactly painful, it was almost arousing and his mind was becoming more and more numb until he understood he was going to faint. By now, though, he was moaning in pleasure. He pushed back, thanking every deity of whom he can recall the name for being strong enough to do it. The sensation was too overwhelming, and his entire body was begging him to feel again Tony’s lips against his burning skin. 

Stephen was sure it was the same for Tony because he could feel the other man’s feelings in the back of his mind. There was arousal, pleasure, and guilt. Hoping the connection worked both ways, Stephen tried to think about the good, burning feeling which he felt. 

“I’m sorry,” Tony’s beath was short, he curled up in the corner where he was when Stephen had first walked into the workshop. “I didn’t want to, but your blood smells so good.”

“I told you to,” Stephen smiled, softly. “Tony, I know this won’t change anything and that I acted selfishly but the world needs you. I had no rights to bring you back, and this wasn’t supposed to happen but we will fix it, ok?” 

Tony nodded. “You don’t have any rights, I’d already been a monster and this… What I am now, it shouldn’t even exist, but here I am, standing in front of you with fucking bloodthirst, and not as the expression but for real.”

“I understand, I’ll leave, I’m coming tonight so you will be able to feed again.”

“Steph,” Tony whispered, while the sorcerer was opening the portal. “Can you stay a little longer?”

\--

Tony was pacing in the hallway of his own house. They were going to tell the others what happened to him. He wasn’t just nervous, he was used to judging glances from his teammates and choosing Halloween out of all the days to spill the beans was something so Tony Stark that nobody was going to doubt him, possibly. What concerned him was his relationship with Stephen.

He loved the man, like, a lot, but he knew that them arguing over the sorcerer’s decision meant that their relationship was, at least, in a pause. And still, they kept sleeping in the same bed, and Stephen was the only human being of whom Tony used to feed. Peter proposed, but Stark didn’t trust himself enough. Though, he didn’t have that problem with Strange. And now he was holding the man’s hand, squeezing it still careful. 

“Once it’s done, we need to speak,” He whispered, waiting for everyone to enter the room. Stephen, at his side, nodded. There was something strange, in his steel blue glance, but Tony didn’t ask, not now. Again, they needed to speak, because, even if they managed not to kill each other -as in Tony didn’t drain Stephen who didn’t use his magic to burn him the rare occasions in which the genius was too thirsty- the past two months had been crazy. 

“Yeah, we need to,” Stephen echoed him, pushing the door open once Cap and Bucky, the last two Avengers and friends who weren’t already at the Tower, took their chairs. 

The moment they entered, everyone went silent. Stephen wasn’t an Avenger, so when he was at one of their meetings, usually, it meant that they were going to fight some interdimensional threat or some creature which was too powerful for the sorcerers alone to take down, which, usually, meant very powerful and very dangerous. 

“Hi, guys,” Tony said, taking his own chair and waiting for everyone else to look at him before speaking. “There’s something Stephen and I need to tell you, and I’d really appreciate if you won’t get crazy.” He could smell everyone’s scent, and what was crazy was that he could exactly say to whom all those scents belong. It was too much, to be honest. Since he was brought back to life, he saw just a couple of people at the same time, usually with Stephen by his side, ready to stop him. And now there were almost twenty individuals in a very small room and… A shaking hand placed on his shoulder reminded Tony that he had to focus on his words. “Ok, something happened and even if Peter, Rhodey, Stephen and Wong already know I need for you all to be part of this secret of mine…”

He was this close to saying everything when he noticed that neither Peter or Wong were in the room. He hoped for all of the people who knew would have been at his back the moment the others started to call him a monster, an abomination. Tony knew that was what he was, but he also knew he went through hell and back and couldn’t simply act as if he didn’t care about others’ opinions, not any longer. 

And then a portal opened in the middle of the room and Peter ran out of it, Wong following with a couple of books and a thin man whose skin was so pale to look almost transparent. 

“Strange,” The sorcerer said, ignoring everyone else in the room. Stephen moved close to Wong, which resulted in him freeing his hand from Tony’s shoulder just to be replaced a moment later by Rhodey’s who looked as concerned as Stark was. 

Despite every legend on vampires, Tony wasn’t able to hear anything but his heartbeat, which, again, seemed to exist because the blood he drunk was enough to pump through his body to keep his organs working. 

Stephen and Wong spoke for some seconds, Strange’s eyes wondering for a while on the other man and then on Tony before he asked: “Are you sure?”

It was the stranger’s turn to reply and, while he wasn’t whispering what he said was barely audible. “The spell is safer than what you did in the cave, Sorcerer Supreme.” 

And that was enough for everyone to keep attention to the conversation which was going on in the further corner of the room. A part of Tony was glad for that distraction, another one was questioning himself about what was going on. “You mean that this will reverse his condition without killing Tony?” Stephen asked, and even if the man nodded, Tony saw better all the other Avengers turning their eyes back on him, concerned and worried lights in their eyes. 

“Tony, what’s going on?” Nat asked him, but all Tony’s attention was on Stephen and when he came by his side he almost jumped on his chair. He could feel his own nerves more tensed than ever. 

“Wong and Peter found a spell,” He said, his lips deliciously brushing against Tony’s neck. “If you want, we can perform it now, but it must be done before the end of the day. It only works on Halloween, something about the distance between the dead and living worlds getting closer.” 

Tony nodded, he knew he still had to give an explanation to his teammates, but they were slowly running out of time. He didn’t even pay attention to the justification Stephen gave the others, he just knew he promised to answer all their questions once he was back and then he guided Tony in his bedroom. 

\--

Stephen was looking at Tony’s body, his chest going up and down following his breathing and that was enough for him. He saw that chest being perfectly unmoving once and he wasn’t keen to replicate that. 

“Good morning, sunshine,” The genius whispered, and Strange had no idea how he could sound ironic after being brought back from death and then after becoming human again after having been a vampire for four months, but that was one of Tony Stark’s powers apparently. 

“Please, tell me you don’t feel the need to bite my neck,” Stephen joked, receiving a small smile from the other man.

“Only in a very kinky way,” They both laughed, and while they knew they would have to speak about where their relationship was, for now, Stephen didn’t complain when Tony pushed his lips against his. It was the first kiss they shared in a long, long time, and Stephen had missed those soft lips. As well as he missed feeling hot hands against his bare skin.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, comments and kudos = love.  
> And feel free to bother me with your prompts and ideas on Tumblr @ [myrxellabaratheon](http://myrxellabaratheon.tumblr.com/) and @ [ironstrange-is-the-endgame](https://ironstrange-is-the-endgame.tumblr.com/)
> 
> PSA: I'm a creator for the Marvel Trumps Hate 2018 charity on Tumblr and I'd really appreciate if you'll [bid on my works](https://mthofferings.tumblr.com/post/179254823791/juls-see-julss-existing-works-here-preferred).


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